LONE SCOT HELPS CLINCH TEAM VICTORY AT BANGALORE

JAMES ROSS WINS LAST-DAY SINGLES 

AS EUROPE WIN BONALLACK TROPHY

James Ross (Royal Burgess), pictured, a student at Houston Univesity, Texas and the only Scot in the team of 12, won his last-day singles tie by 5 and 3 against Shinich Mizuno as Europe beat Asia-Pacific by 17 1/2 to 14 1/2 in the Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy amateur international team match at Bangalore, India today.

Asia Pacific, who started the final day trailing by 5pt after two days of foursomes and four-ball matches, won the last set of singles 7-5 to reduce the deficit to 3pt.

England's Ryan Evans beat Taylor MacDonald 6 and 4 but compatriot Ashley Chesters, the European amateur champion, went down by one hole to Geoff Drakeford.

Ireland's Gavin Moynihan beat Karan Taunk 2 and 1 but Dermot McElroy, the other Irishman in the Europe team, lost by 6 and 4 to Kenta Konishi

FROM THE R and A WEBSITE

Europe has retained the Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy after defeating the Asia-Pacific team 17.5 to 14.5 points at the Karnataka Golf Association course in Bangalore, India.
Leading 12.5 to 7.5 points after the second day, Europe’s victory was clinched by 20-year-old Irishman and 2013 Walker Cup player Gavin Moynihan who defeated India’s Karan Taunk with two holes left to play. Asia-Pacific managed a final charge, winning seven of 12 singles matches, but were held off by the European side. James Ross, the 2013 Scottish Amateur Golfer of the Year, delivered a resounding five-hole victory over Japan’s Shinchi Mizuno to help secure the win.
Non-playing captain Andy Morgan of Wales, commented, “The battle was tough out there and our players had to fight really hard. Without a doubt, Asia-Pacific played really well today and the match looked close a number of times during the day.”
“The best part about this tournament was that all 13 of us came into Bangalore as individuals and will travel back to our respective countries as one team. These boys will never forget this tremendous experience no matter what else they go on to achieve in their careers,” he added.
First contested in 1998, it was the ninth staging of the biennial event and the sixth time that Europe has lifted the trophy.
Teams of 12 players representing each side competed over three days of competition, with five morning fourball matches and five afternoon foursome matches on days one and two and 12 singles matches on the final day.
Many top-ranked amateur players took part in the competition, including reigning European Amateur champion Ashley Chesters of England, Renato Paratore of Italy who recently won the Junior Orange Bowl, and 16-year-old Dominic Foos of Germany who finished tied 16th at the European Tour’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in January.
On the Asia-Pacific side, Tauk is a former Bangledesh Amateur and Western India Amateur winner, while Australia’s Geoff Drakeford and Taylor MacDonald tied for the individual title at the Nomura Cup in November 2013 alongside Nam-Hun Kim of Korea. Soo-Min Lee, also of Korea, has a professional win under his belt from the Korean Tour’s Gunsan CC Open, and finished fourth at the 2013 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in China.
Five-time Amateur Champion and former Captain and Secretary of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews Sir Michael Bonallack presented the trophy to Europe at the conclusion of the event.
Many notable players are past participants of the Bonallack Trophy, including Justin Rose, Hideki Matsuyama, Francesco Molinari and two-time Major winner Rory McIlroy, who passed along his best wishes to the European team at the beginning of the week.